The Acid Test for AJAX Apps
Kottke recently linked up an application from the "labs" of metroblog Gothamist.
Gothamist Maps uses Google Maps to pinpoint news alerts (fires, robberies, car accidents, etc.) on a map of NYC. Pretty cool.
OK, so it's being done by about a thousand other guys too, but in any case I went to check it out. Unfortunately all I got was a standard satellite view New York with no signs of the promised thefts, fires, carjackings and other great stuff. Obviously their data source is unavailable for some unforseen reason. The real issue I have though, is that the application makes absolutely no apologies for this. There is no way to tell whether the application has a problem or there is just no current news available. This is something that's all too common in AJAX applications -- the developer never considers what should happen when things don't go as planned.
So here is the acid test for an AJAX application. At the very minimum your application should behave nicely in this scenario:
- Load the application.
- Set your browser to offline mode
- Start clicking!
Have a look around at a few of the AJAX applications out there. You'll find some that deal with this pretty well and others that fail miserably.
